The invention relates to a ceramic article, more particularly in the form of a sanitary, culinary or laboratory article.
Ceramic articles are articles produced from ceramic materials or comprising ceramic materials as essential constituents, and have been known for a long time. The known areas of application or use of such ceramic articles include, in particular, sanitary articles such as, for example, WCs, wash basins, shower trays, bath tubs, bidets, urinals, etc., but also culinary articles such as, for example, kitchen tops or work tops, dishes, trays or the like, or corresponding laboratory articles, likewise in the form for example of dishes, trays and the like, with this enumeration of course not being exhaustive.
A ceramic article of this kind consists customarily of a fired ceramic base body and also of a likewise fired glaze which is applied to this base body and which forms the surface of the article. This glaze is customarily applied in the form of a slip to the ceramic base body, which is either unfired or has already undergone preliminary firing, and is subsequently fired conventionally in a firing at sufficient temperature.
Particularly in the aforementioned areas of application or use, antibacterial properties may be useful or required of respective ceramic articles to be employed therein. A commercially customary glaze not specifically adapted in terms of its composition does not have any notable antibacterial quality. In order to endow the glaze with an enhanced antibacterial quality, it is known practice, from DE 10 2015 101 609 A1, for example, to provide the glaze with a high fraction of zinc oxide, specified therein at more than 35 mass %. Tests with glazed test bodies in accordance with the common test standard (JIS=Japanese Industrial Standard) JIS Z 2801: 2010 showed a reduction in the Escherichia coli test microbes applied to the test bodies of approximately 3.0 log10 steps, corresponding to a reduction of approximately 99%, which means that microbial growth can already be reduced strikingly with such a glaze.
There is nevertheless a requirement for a glaze which is improved further relative to this.